Expert Behavioral Analysis Panel Amerithrax Case

In September and October 2001, a series of letters containing Bacillus anthracis was mailed to targets in the media and Congress. As a result, 22 individuals became infected and five died. Over the next eight years, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) conducted one of the most complex, far-reaching and expensive investigations in the history of law enforcement. This investigation, code-named Amerithrax, eventually identified the mailer as Bruce Ivins, a microbiologist at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). In July 2009, Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia authorized a report from the Expert Behavioral Analysis Panel to examine “the mental health issues of Dr. Bruce Ivins and what lessons can be learned from that analysis that may be useful in preventing future bioterrorism attacks.”